BFFs

Enough said....

Things I've learned....

Motherhood has a steep learning curve. Along the way, not only have I learned many things about Stella and taking care of her, but I've also learned a lot about myself. Being a nurse, it seemed that taking care of an infant would be just an extension of my work experience, but there's so much more to know in daily life. But about myself...
1. I enjoy routine. Basically I like check boxes and structure to my day. All of these things are part of my working life. However, all of that goes out the window now. Which leads to number 2
2. I'm learning to slow down. The pace here at home is much slower than out in the rest of the world. I do enjoy that though! If we get one thing done it's a productive day. Today we went to Mommy group and bought milk. What a full day!
3. I'm learning patience, it's ok to take it slow everyday!

So just a few shots of us chilling out.

Just a quick update....

Another quick trip into the hospital today, just a bloodwork day and no visit with the nurse or doctor. Stella was of course a wonder with her poke. She's very forgiving and will even flash a smile as we're leaving. I have to admit, I have promised her a pony on numerous occasions for everything she endures. I have no idea how I'm going to deal with this as she gets older. They do love her there, and one of the nurses commented that she gets cuter everyday (which we all know of course!).
It's nice to visit the hospital and see friends, but of course not nice to see people that shouldn't be there. I'm so thankful everytime we get to leave and remember all the special little people who are so brave.

Love it or Hate it

Little Miss Stella hates tummy time. The only person who hates it almost as much is me. Don't be fooled by yesterday's picture, she was tricking you into thinking she'll tolerate lying on her stomach. She's sneaky like that. This is how tummytime usually goes:

1. Mommy rolls Stella on her belly.
2. Stella looks around (approximate time 30 seconds)
3. Stella realizes she's on her stomach and starts to fuss.
4. Fussing quickly evolves into a yell. Not a cry, it's like she's yelling "get me off of here!
5. Mommy attempts to give Stella a pacifier to prolong tummytime.
6. One of two things happens a. Stella falls asleep b. the yelling continues.

Approximate length of tummytime = as long as 3 minutes. If we try longer than that we might get some crying for up to 20 minutes after being picked up. This is Stella's way of teaching us... "Do not do that again".

Note as well... at no time does she really try to lift herself up. She's lucky she's so cute :)

Baby Beluga

Yesterday we got a lovely package from our friends Michelle and Tim (and Lila too of course) with some of Lila's favourite treats. One of which was the Baby Beluga book with a copy of the Baby Beluga Raffi CD. I popped it in the CD player in the afternoon and it was an instant hit! This is our second Raffi CD and I have to say, I greatly enjoy. We always listened to Raffi as kids, and I find that I still know the words to a lot of the songs. So snapshot, Stella and I lying on the floor, listening to Raffi... and getting heavy eyes. We both had a little snooze there for a few minutes. There's definitely something soothing and relaxing about that man's voice. So I say "Raffi, thank you for special moments I'll remember with my baby".

Fluffy bum

Today is our 41st day of cloth diapering. In the last 41 days, we have used maybe 6 disposible diapers. Hurray for us! I have a massive addiction to and obsession with cloth diapers. I could read about them all day long. I love them. What I love most; the fact that we don't fill our green bin with diapers. I had thought all along that I would want to do cloth diapers. After the first month of bag after heavy bag of disposible diapers being carted out to the bins, I knew there was no way I would/could keep that up.

Today I took a trip to the great cloth diaper store on Bloor west, Diaperezz. First, it's very good that this store is not within walking distance. I might be there every day! We bought 12 prefolds and two more diaper covers. 12 prefold diapers cost $30. That's $2.50 each. And they have a ridiculous life span. So I'm saving money on diapers, and I'm saving money on my garbage bin size. Here in Toronto if you can't fit all your garbage in your bin, you have to pay for additional bags. And the bin is not big, I have no idea where we put all the diapers!

But Momma, what about all the laundry? Well, we don't use detergent with cloth diapers, usually just a bit of baking soda. And the laundry's being done anyway! I can't wait for the warm weather so I can start drying everything outside.

www.diaper-eez.com

Also, I may have solved my never ending baby sock problem today....

http://www.sockons.co.uk/

I really wanted these bad boys but since they were made in the UK I wasn't sure if they would have them in Canada. Sure enough they had them at Diaperezz. A-mazing.

Finally, I must have this doll....

http://www.liveandlearn.com/dolls/babystella.html

Overall a very fun outing. Now that we've gotten past this 10 week growth spurt, and seem to have medications in order, Kirsten & Stella are on the move!

January so far

So we've had a very eventful month!

On January 4th we finally got the results of Stella's December blood work back and they were still "borderline", so we went in for more bloodwork and a thyroid scan. My little wonder was a trouper. Tuesday morning we went in to Sick kids to get everything done right away. She cried during the bloodwork, but we had a good phlebotomist and they got it done quick. From there we went on to nuclear medicine where she had to first have her contrast injection then her scan. The injection was pretty brutal. Now, I know the hospital is a teaching hospital, but they put the tourniquet on and checked all her poor little limbs so the student could practice and my poor baby screamed bloody murder. But of course she was a dream for the scan, even when they had to bring the scanner right down to her nose.

Her thyroid scan results show that she was an enlarged thyroid which is not producing enough T4 hormone. That, along with her bloodwork results showed we had to start synthroid, a synthetic hormone substitute. Within the first day I saw a difference, she was more alert, sleeping less. By the end of the weekend she was a mess, she could barely breastfeed without crying. But she wanted to feed all day long. And no naps at all, she would be awake for 8 hours at a time.

While we are new parents, it just didn't feel right. And we knew from our experiences with jaundice that it was best to trust our instincts. Jeff called our contact nurse Lori at the endocrine clinic and she thought we should come in to check Stella's thyroid levels again. I felt horrible about putting her through more bloodwork, potentially just to make myself feel reassured. But the next day she started sweating while she was feeding and that seemed to be just another reason to go into the hospital. We were so glad we went in, her T4 level had jumped from 12 to 41. We took a day of rest and started back on a lower dose which seems much better. She's still not a great napper, but the fussy inconsolable period seems to be limited to the 45 minutes before bedtime.

On Wednesday we went in for her 2 month check up and first round of immunizations. Yet another reason to be fussy! However, she slept from 830-730 that night. How good does 8 hours of sleep feel!

What new things have we learned this month? She's chatting a lot more and can entertain herself much longer on her mat or in her swing. She's development a huge hatred for tummy time, but Mommy pushes her so she can build up her arms.

We've gotten the bedtime routine down now which goes a little something like this...
645 - head up to the bath, hang out on change pad and pick out jammies for the night.
700 - Bath time! We spend 10 minutes chilling in the tub. Stella likes to stick her little feet out of the bath and scootch her bum down so that she's all in the water. We use the nice smelling lavender body wash so that when you lean into her crib in the middle of the night it smells soooo good!
715 - back to Stella's room, we do the rub down with moisturizer and talk about our day. Then we sing Stella's bedtime song and if she's not too fussy then we might read Good night Moon and Runaway Bunny.
730 - Daddy comes upstairs with the bottle and Mommy says good night!
Usually by 8 she's out for the count, though sometimes, it might take a couple extra trips upstairs to rock and cuddle. This weekend we made the transition to the crib. We've had a couple set backs, but I think it's good to keep at it.

Big question... what is a baby sleeping about when she laughs in her sleep?
Answer - boobies and puppies.

And the new year begins...

Welcome to 2010. This year is going to bring a lot of firsts for our little bambino and so much to look forward to. But first... my resolutions:

1. Of course lose this damn baby weight. I think I say this every year.
2. Learn to refinish some furniture ie a dresser for the guestroom and a table for the front hall.
3. Figure out if I want to go back to school.

Those aren't too hard, other than that I'm going to enjoy this year with Princess Stella.

And here's some motivation!